Monday, November 30, 2009

I made it back to Texas. Last night's drive was a rough one. Phone talking kept me awake, but after a weekend stuck in a benedryl daze, my late start on the road soon stretched into a slightly difficult drive. Finding a friendly Walmart to sleep at (with all this mention of that *insert adjective* store, maybe I can get some sponsorship from them) sounded all too appealing, but two friends talked me into making the drive. A couch generally trumps the backseat of my car in terms of comfort and practicality anyway.

This month I will be staying in ONE state. For three weeks I will be in Texas before running away to another state. But in general, there will be no jumping from state to state; instead, I am driving from Houston, to Dallas, to San Antonio, to Houston and back to Dallas during December. Perhaps not the most practical of schedules, but it often seems things do not work out as planned. So much for my vision of a restful, boring couple of weeks in an apartment. I'm too young for that anyway.

This morning I brought my home in for repair. While on my last trip from coast to coast, I had left my car in Dallas with a friend. The car needed a home and a little bit of babysitting, and my friend was without a car. I figured it was the ideal scenario. When I came back to Dallas, I found out my car had a run in with a fire hydrant three weeks ago and the fire hydrant clearly won. So today I finally had the chance to bring my duct taped car in to a repair place, and am now driving around in what feels like a boat. I do not begrudge my friend for the damage, accidents do happen, but still wish she had told me when the damage had been done so it could be repaired while I was out of town. I am partial to my car because it is "mine," and sometimes in a life of changing locations it is nice to have one thing that is constant and familiar.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Some people spend their Thanksgiving day lounging around their home in pajamas, frantically making the finishing touches of a grand meal and essentially sleeping, eating and relaxing. I began my day by spooning with roadkill. I can see the fear and disgust bubbling up at the conjuring of this image and I promise you it was no where near as gross as imagined. My clothes were still on, my body about an inch away, and my nose didn't comprehend the foul smell for about 3 seconds.

The entire day of shooting was a delightful and new way to spend Thanksgiving day. Running in nature with bits of wardrobe and amazing, sparkling light made for great photos and a fantastically fun day. I even got to eat leftover Turkey day fare for dinner.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Today I am finally able to breathe. I have a place to stay for the rest of the week and call home. These days, any place I feel welcome, have a bed to sleep in, and can wander in and out of on my own is a home to me. A place where I can brew a cup of coffee, walk around in random amounts of clothes and place my shampoo bottle in the shower is even closer to home.

I get simple thrills out of new experiences and being in new places. At first sight, new is always shiny and well, new, to me. Sometimes illustrious first notions of excitement quickly diminish, but sometimes the glimmer remains. Early last week I was in Mississippi working with a couple of photographers. I had never been to Mississippi before, and was optimistic about seeing the place. Within three days I found myself in cotton fields (a first for me), pressed against a railroad track while a train wizzed by, covered in chocolate, painted like flags, covered in Mississippi mud and floating in a bathtub of milk. I was entertained by the sheer number of things I was covered in for my shoots, but now I find myself a wee bit speckled. Apparently, between the paint and the mud, my body is having an allergic reaction. So, if anyone wants to work with a speckled model, I know just the gal...

I was on the phone with my sister when I drove past the sign introducing me to Florida. Midnight on Sunday marked my first time to ever cross into the Florida border. Simple thrills.

A couple of days ago I woke up in my car and decided to start a blog.I unfolded my legs from the backseat of my car, put on my glasses and looked out the windows of my car. Hello Walmart. Hello Pensacola.

The night before I had tried to sleep in a rest stop, but was greeted with a sign proclaiming, "No overnight stays." Perhaps this was intended for campers, but good-two-shoes me decided to stay away. Onwards I trekked. My final destination for the night - Pensacola Walmart.